A doctor at a Goa hospital for COVID-19 treatment has been giving a warm send-off to recovered patients by hugging them to send across a message to the society to accept these people and not ostracise them.

Dr Edwin Gomes, the Goa Medical Colleges medicine department head who led a team of doctors at the Margao-based ESI hospital for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, has hugged almost 190 patients at the time of their discharge in the last three months.